Monday, 26 June 2017

The Plague Of Public Health Part 2 – Going Underground

Yesterday saw the publication of the first of three parts to
this current blog entry investigating some of the major consequences of
Prohibition. ‘The Black Market’ followed one of the first effects that
Prohibition causes – that of promoting illicit/illegal activity.

Today’s blog entry – ‘Going Underground’ – follows what
happens when people are forced to enjoy their habit out of the glare of the
public spotlight.

In yesterday’s blog entry, I discussed the Black Market and
how it grows and thrives in a Prohibitionist world. Now comes the opportunity
to discuss the ways in how that Black Market is used.

We already have a clear indication of what happens when
something is prohibited in society. It can found in the world of illicit drugs.

Drugs, of various types, have been around for as long as the
human race has evolved. Early man quickly discovered that using certain plants
in certain ways had beneficial and enjoyable benefits to the user. Some drugs
developed that eased pain or cured disease, whilst others developed that simply
provided pleasure. I am not going to discuss ‘ The Pleasure Principal’ in this
blog. That subject has been covered frequently and far more eloquently in other
blogs to be found around the internet (including on the NNA Website). Suffice
to say, that drugs of pleasure have been around for a very long time.

Two of the most common (legal) drugs in today’s society are
obviously caffeine and nicotine. But even the so-called illicit drugs were
perfectly legal until relatively recent times. In fact, cannabis/marijuana and even
drugs such as LSD (acid) were legal in my lifetime as they were not finally
made illegal until the late 1960’s. The Victorians were voracious and ubiquitous
drug users and the term ‘The Opium Den’ really came into the English language
as a phrase during the Victorian era, though the phrase was probably coined
long before that. Many prominent Victorians are reputed to have been
heavy drugs users (including Royalty) and indeed many fictional Victorian
characters (such as Sherlock Holmes) were regularly depicted as drug users,
such was the commonplace occurrence of those times.

Then, in the late 1960’s, various Governments started Legislating
against recreational drugs as they realised how popular they were becoming
amongst the populace. There is little doubt that some drugs are far more
insidious and dangerous than others. Cannabis is a good example of a relatively
benign drug. It has a great many qualities as a source of pain relief (a fact
not unnoticed by many MS sufferers), but also provides a huge amount of
pleasure. I will admit to having sampled cannabis joints in my younger years
and found the effect to be not only pleasurable, but akin to getting drunk on
alcohol – but without the inevitable hangover the following morning. On the
other end of the scale, we have the highly addictive and destructive heroin,
which causes much damage and crime in society.

The problem was that when the Governments, egged on by
Public Health, decided to act on drugs, they chose to come down with a ‘hammer
to crack an egg’ approach. That is, they came out with a blanket ban on a whole
range of drugs rather than treat each on its merits. The result was to drive
the entire drugs market underground and a continual war against this has been
fought ever since, costing an absolute fortune in law enforcement and crime
prevention. It is a mistake they
continue to make as more and more drugs are added to that list.

Has drug use gone down since legislation was brought in during the 60's ?

Absolutely not. Drug use continues to skyrocket and thus proves that prohibition of drugs has simply not worked. The more
enlightened countries that are slowly lifting such restrictions are now seeing
the benefit.

But is tobacco next ?How about nicotine ? Alcohol ? Sugar ? Salt ?

True, you will tell me that all of those substances are
legal to be consumed, and you would be right. But it is also true that the only
reason they are all still legal is because the Governments around the world
make so much money from them, and we all know that money is a Government’s
main addiction (power is the other one).

However, let’s take tobacco as an example. Whilst it may
still be a legal product, it is being increasingly marginalised. Already
smoking has been pushed out of pubs, clubs and other public spaces. You have
not been able to smoke on public transport for a very long time and all work
premises are now also smoke-free. In the latest twist even our own cars have
become targets for becoming smoke-free as a new (unenforceable) law was brought
in to ban smoking in any vehicle carrying children. The latest pushes are to
ban smoking in public parks and beaches. Some in public health would even like
to see smoking banned outside of pubs, especially in beer gardens. The places a
person can actually enjoy a legal product such as tobacco, are becoming so restricted that smokers
have no choice but to retreat to the sanctity of their own homes or private
social gatherings to enjoy and indulge their habit (I refuse to call it an
addiction as I do not believe it to be so).

Aah, but what about the Vapers you ask ?Vapers can still enjoy their product where
smokers cannot. That may be true in many instances, but as a Vaper I can assert
that even the places where one can vape are slowly being eroded. Whilst there
is currently no legislation banning the use of vape-products in public enclosed
spaces, some Governmental bodies have tried to go down that route (Yes, I am
looking at you Welsh Government) – unsuccessfully. Indeed some countries in the
world have actually gone as far as banning vape-products altogether. So Vapers,
do not make the mistake of believing we are immune to such bans. More and more
places are banning the use of vape products in the mistaken belief that there
is actually some harm to be had from them – despite no credible evidence to
prove so. It is only a matter of time before another Public Health ‘charity’
tries again to persuade Government that they should be banning their use.

And it will not stop there. Alcohol is on their list, as are
fizzy drinks. Soon there will be calls for complete bans on sugary products or those
high in salt content. The list is neverending as each Public Health ‘charity’
or organisation will seek to reinvent themselves to ensure that the gravy train
keeps on rolling in the money.

The net effect is that bans will drive such behaviour
underground, just like it has with the drugs ‘problem’. Just like drugs, people
will start buying products on the Black Market (discussed yesterday) which will
be products that have no guarantee of content or safety. They will be forced to
smoking/vaping/drinking ‘underground’ by retreating to the sanctity of their homes
to enjoy the product. Once such products reach the level of being sold on the
black market and consumed behind closed doors, then that is when Public Health
will completely lose the battle, whether they realise it or not. Because when such
products are consumed behind closed doors, there is no limit on how much can be
consumed. There is no control on how it is consumed. There is no control over
who might be present when it is consumed. Most importantly, they will lose the
ability to know how many people are consuming those products. So their skewed ‘reports’
on consumption will truly hit complete fantasy-land as they will have no way to
measure consumption and, as with drugs, people will simply deny they use them
when asked.

If Public Health think they have a major health problem on
their hands now, then it is nothing compared to the problems they are going to
encounter once all of these habits have gone underground. Once underground, the
whole sphere becomes an unregulated, uncontrolled badlands and the consequences
could be horrendous.

Will Public Health learn from their mistakes in the war on
drugs ?

I doubt it. I seriously doubt it. There is far too much
money at stake for them to learn from their experiences.

And as we are all well aware, it is not about health with
these people is it ?

About Me

I was born in Wales way back in the year of 1963. I am bilingual - fluent in both Welsh and English - but can also lay claim to having some limited conversational abilities in French, Dutch and German.
My favourite sport is Rugby Union, which I played for more than 30 years until forced to retire due to injury. Consequently, I am a bit bigger than your average guy in that I am 6 foot tall and currently weigh 170lbs.
I am an accomplished musician having played in several brass bands and orchestras, therefore I can play a multitude of musical instruments.